<p>The Union cabinet approved the creation of a special panel on Thursday with watered down powers to speed up the slow implementation of big-ticket infrastructure projects.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The panel, to be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will fast-track projects worth Rs 1000 crore or more, said one minister who attended the cabinet meeting and who declined to be named.<br /><br />The government hopes the new body will help to increase investment in an economy that is likely to slow in fiscal 2013 to its worst pace in a decade. Singh's chief economic adviser sees full-year growth of 5.5 per cent to 6 per cent. Infrastructure companies have pressed for the creation of such a board to speed up hundreds of delayed projects. <br /><br />Regulatory hurdles, such as delayed land acquisition and environmental clearances, have held up projects worth over Rs 2 lakh crore in the road, power, coal and mining sectors alone, according to government data.<br /><br />However, due to opposition within the government, the powers of the panel have been diluted and it will not be able to directly clear the projects.<br /><br />Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan had stalled the panel’s creation for months, calling it authoritarian.</p>
<p>The Union cabinet approved the creation of a special panel on Thursday with watered down powers to speed up the slow implementation of big-ticket infrastructure projects.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The panel, to be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will fast-track projects worth Rs 1000 crore or more, said one minister who attended the cabinet meeting and who declined to be named.<br /><br />The government hopes the new body will help to increase investment in an economy that is likely to slow in fiscal 2013 to its worst pace in a decade. Singh's chief economic adviser sees full-year growth of 5.5 per cent to 6 per cent. Infrastructure companies have pressed for the creation of such a board to speed up hundreds of delayed projects. <br /><br />Regulatory hurdles, such as delayed land acquisition and environmental clearances, have held up projects worth over Rs 2 lakh crore in the road, power, coal and mining sectors alone, according to government data.<br /><br />However, due to opposition within the government, the powers of the panel have been diluted and it will not be able to directly clear the projects.<br /><br />Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan had stalled the panel’s creation for months, calling it authoritarian.</p>